26 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES ASARABACCA 



stinking drug called Asafcetida. Although strongly disagree- 

 able to the smell and taste, it was nevertheless held in high 

 repute both in ancient and in modern times by the Persians, 

 and other nations of Western Asia, for seasoning curries and 

 other food. It was formerly highly valued for its medicinal 

 properties, and considered worth its weight in silver. Though 

 ' still occasionally prescribed in this country in medicine, its use 

 is rapidly dying out. 



Asarabacca {Asarum europceum), a perennial herb of the 

 Birthwort family (Aristolochiacese), native of this country. It is 

 a low herbaceous plant with creeping stems, producing numer- 

 ous kidney-shaped leaves about 6 inches high, growing compactly 

 together ; the flowers are produced on short stalks hid amongst 

 the leaves, and of a brown colour. It was once held in 

 medicinal repute by herbalists, but is not now much used. 



Ash, Chinese {F. chinensis), a small tree, native of China ; it 

 is remarkable from an insect, a species of Coccus, living on it, and 

 being so abundant on the branches as to give them the appear- 

 ance of being covered with flakes of snow. The insect per- 

 forates the bark and imbibes the juice of the tree, its body as 

 well as the branch of the tree becoming a waxy mass, which is 

 scraped off, and after boiling forms a wax like beeswax or 

 spermaceti. It has been imported to this country, but is too 

 expensive for common use. 



Ash, Common {Fraxinus excelsior), a wing-leaved tree of the 

 Olive family (01eace?e). This noble and valuable timber tree is 

 native throughout Europe, some parts of Western Asia, and 

 North Africa. It lives to a great age, and is extensively planted 

 in this country for its wood, which, on account of its hardness 

 and toughness, is used for all purposes where tenacity is re- 

 quired, such as garden and agricultural implements, also when 

 young for making hoops. 



Ash, Manna {Fraxinus Ornus), by some botanists ranked as a 

 distinct genus under the name of Ornus europceus, a much- 

 branched tree, native of the South of Europe and Palestine. It 

 attains the height of 25 or 30 feet, and produces spikes of pretty 



